Taking a page out of Netflix's playbook, Hulu and the CW television network are entering into a partnership to bring current CW content to Hulu members rather than redirecting users to the CW site.
Announced earlier today, the joint venture of Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation has entered into a five year licensing agreement with media streaming company Hulu. The CW network will be featuring episodes of new shows like Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Ringer as well as legacy CW shows like Supernatural. While Netflix announced a similar partnership earlier this year, Hulu gets immediate streaming access to new episodes while Netflix has to wait an entire year before the next season is scheduled to begin. According to the agreement, Hulu Plus members will have access to the last five episodes of the recently aired television shows and regular Hulu members will have to wait eight days to access each new episode.
While Hulu offers an immediate way to catch up on new episodes, Netflix will offer a much more extensive library of episodes from previous seasons. However, the price on the Hulu deal is likely much smaller due to the reduced amount of episodes available to visitors as well as the window of opportunity to view the episodes. At maximum, Hulu visitors will have access to a year’s worth of content at any given time. Besides Ringer and Supernatural, other shows that are coming along in this deal include Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, America’s Next Top Model, Nikita, 90210, The Secret Circle and The Vampire Diaries.
Fans of CW programming may end up subscribing to both services. Netflix will be able to catch users up on previous seasons and Hulu can offer current programming after a user works up to the most recent season. This is one of the larger deals that Hulu has signed with a network. The last major deal took place earlier this year when Hulu entered into a multi-year deal with Viacom rumored to have cost $40 million just to regain access to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
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